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16 January 2010

Deeply Regrettable Cuts

FOURTEEN jobs will be axed at Plymouth Citybus next month

FOURTEEN jobs will be axed at Plymouth Citybus next month after its new owners announced a wave of "deeply regrettable" cuts, writes Edd Moore. The administrative and engineering staff – which The Herald understands includes five frontline managers – were given their notice on Thursday ahead of the February 28 dismissal date. Transport giant Go-Ahead, which bought Citybus from Plymouth City Council for £20.2million last month, blamed "difficult trading conditions". But union bosses branded the redundancies "disastrous" for the city, claiming the writing had been on the wall since the council's sell-off plans first emerged As well as the managers and administration staff, those in the firing line are understood to include cleaning and maintenance staff, tyre fitters, engineering supervisors and an electrician. This is Plymouth

As can be expected those that were opposed to the sale have been quick to jump on the news:

The Conservatives who forced through the sale should be mightily ashamed of themselves today. Having committed to safeguard jobs under the new owner these redundancies confirmed everything we needed to know about Tory promises – that they are not worth the paper they are written on. They promised not to sell CityBus and they broke that promise and sold the company. They promised there would be no job losses for six months. Today 15 people will have to go home and tell their families that they won’t have a job soon. So much for Tory assurances the company’s staff would be in safe hands. PRSD: Luke Pollard

He ends up with a question

How much longer will it be before fares go up and routes close? And how many more drivers, mechanics and office staff will be sacked in the future?

I guess only time will tell on that one.

I must admit I thought that the guarantee was only on drivers jobs but I could well be wrong on that. It was always to be expected that some 'backroom' jobs would go as administration etc was taken over by Head Office, but I guess it has come a bit quicker than many expected.

It seems that there may be a chance that a few staff may get other jobs within the company, but I am sure that is small comfort to those that are now looking for work. My thoughts are with all those affected.

About Me

My main on-line activity is the Plymothian Transit Blog which covers anything and everything to do with transport in and around Plymouth. My main interest was always buses and coaches so these feature heavily in the blog but I am also covering the railways and the road of Plymouth past and present. The development of the City also gets a mention from time to time.